


this is not new

by thimble



Category: James Bond (Movies), Richard II - Shakespeare, Skyfall (2012) - Fandom, The Hollow Crown - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Cousin Incest, Crossover, M/M, Q the fandom bicycle, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-06
Updated: 2012-11-06
Packaged: 2017-11-18 03:23:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/556341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thimble/pseuds/thimble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tanner looks at Q sometimes, and sees someone else. [AU where Q and Tanner are the reincarnations of Richard II and Henry IV, based on the actor's depictions in The Hollow Crown].</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is not new

**Author's Note:**

> When I found out that Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear were going to be in the same movie _again_ , after their fantastic portrayals of Richard II and Henry Bolingbrook, respectively, in the BBC Hollow Crown series, I knew I had to write some kind of reincarnation deal with them. I _had_ to. 
> 
> Look, [see](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbpp0pvzLZ1racd4ro2_1280.jpg) [here](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbppeaal0T1racd4ro4_1280.jpg). They were so tragically married.

 

_you give me miles and miles of mountains_

The first time Tanner sees Q - he isn't Q yet, but calling him anything else would be inconceivable now - he's pointed out by M as a new recruit from across the room. Caught for hacking into the database, she said, but not after flying undetected for more than twenty four straight hours. 

He doesn't seem anything at all noteworthy, and could be mistaken for a college kid whose hair hasn't seen scissors in years. 

M doesn't say it, but she sees more than a boy in him. Tanner has learned to trust her judgement. 

He gets a better view, a few days later. Walks past him, just another employee in a row of identical desks, and casts a surreptitious glance. Q who is not yet Q is hunched over, so all Tanner sees is an eyeful of messy hair and wrinkled vest. Or, all he would have seen if he hadn't bumped into someone, causing a little commotion.

Q looks up, and Tanner just _stops_.

 

 

_"Cousin." Richard comes to him one day, small and bright-eyed. "I require your assistance."_

_Henry follows. Henry has been following Richard for as long as he can remember. They reach the garden, but they keep walking until they reach an apple tree. The first fruits were just blooming, green as the leaves beside them._

_"Fetch me one," says Richard, expectantly._

_"It isn't ready," says Henry, but still he looks the tree up and down, wondering how long it would take him to reach the top._

_"It is ready because I say it is ready," says Richard, without pretense or pride. It's what he has been told since he was four years old._

_Henry takes off his shoes and other heavy things. He doesn't think twice about climbing after Richard has spoken._

_"Remember to pluck a ripe one," calls out Richard once he's halfway there. "From the crown, where they are kissed by sun."_

_Henry nearly falls, once or twice. But he does it. He hands it over to Richard when his feet touch the ground, and his heart swells when Richard grins after taking a bite._

 

 

Tanner doesn't as much look at Q after that. He seems terribly familiar, though Tanner is certain they've never met. And it hurts a little. But he doesn't know why.

He doesn't need the distraction. He briefly considers getting Q terminated, it would be easy for someone in his position, and Q hasn't been here long. He knows he's good, M would have let him rot in a high security prison otherwise, but Tanner's human. For now he puts Queen and country above his own selfishness, but the thought stayed at the back of his mind.

That is, until the attack on headquarters that kills six of their own. MI6 suddenly found themselves in need of a new quartermaster, though they didn't have to look far.

Tanner is the one to tell him. 

 

 

_"Cousin." Richard interrupts him one morning. Henry's in the middle of sword training, but he tells the other lad to stop._

_"Your Highness," says Henry, with a slight bow. He waits for Richard's request. Richard has a lot of them._

_"You look thirsty," says Richard. He's not wearing his crown, but that does little to dampen his presence. The Boy King, they say, the moon borrows its light from him. "Come join me for a drink."_

_Henry has other lessons to attend to, but he dismisses the lad, goes with Richard to the courtyard. They sit on the grass, Richard pours them both wine._

_"Court affairs are so tiring," says Richard. "All I do is sit there, they never let me speak."_

_Henry rolls the wine around in his mouth before he swallows. "Your idleness has reached new heights."_

_That makes Richard laugh. "But still you are my biggest critic. You tie me to this world, Harry. I spend too much time in the sky as is."_

_They fall into a comfortable quiet. A part of Henry wants to mount a horse, ride with Richard behind him, arms around his waist. Most of him is content with this._

_Richard's eyes match the summer, heat and all._

 

 

Q takes it in stride. The next time Tanner sees him, in the relocated HQ, he has full command of the floor, and a mug on his desk with his insignia. He still seems impossibly young, and a coil of dread tightens in Tanner's chest. History has never been in the favor of young rulers.

He puts this thought away. 

He still has glimpses of gold whenever he looks at Q, but he adjusts. He has to. After the new M is appointed, there were much bigger things to set his cares on. Q never again mentions the day Bond asked him to break rules, Tanner his accomplice. 

Mostly they speak in typed messages and urgent calls. Mostly emergencies. They never have much to say when they're in the same room and Tanner prefers it, until the dreams come.

The dreams are much harder to avoid.

 

 

_"Harry." Richard is seventeen when Henry first takes him to bed, but it was Richard who made the initial gamble. He needn't have worried. Henry has done everything he has asked since they were children, and he doesn't intend to stop now._

_He unlaces the ties on Richard's tunic, the ones that are like a trail from his throat to his arms. Underneath his court robes he's pale and slender, like the deer his subjects hunt. This comparison disturbs Henry more than he'd admit, so he closes his eyes and presses his mouth to a graceful shoulder._

_He touches, and he touches, and he soars higher than heaven. Richard lays back for him, but his hands are just as greedy. The room smells like oil, like incense, like grapevines, like a church abandoned, and Henry doesn't feel worthy._

_He doesn't dare leave bruises, but Richard has bitten him in many places. He's touching them now, as if enamored by his own teeth marks._

_"You wear me well, cousin," says Richard fondly. "Will you do me a favor?"_

_Henry exhales as Richard's nimble fingers trace a path lower. "It has already been done."_

_Richard smiles and it rivals the sea at noon. "Don't hide them. They'll turn such lovely colors soon. Falling leaves..."_

_His fingers are replaced by his tongue; Henry doesn't doubt for a second that he is God's anointed._

 

 

Tanner knows 007 is sleeping with Q. Even if he hadn't caught them in one of the surveillance feeds -- Q must have forgotten to disable the one in his office for this instance -- it was evident elsewhere. The incessant flirting through earpieces was no secret, and 007 wears a look around Q that Tanner's seen when he's courting dangerous women.

Good, Tanner thinks. Let him be under no illusions that their Quartermaster is fragile, a mere child. He's fooled them all.

After his first blunder, the most devastating, Q seems to have taken it upon himself to never make a mistake again. Their databases have never been safer, and not one infiltrating threat makes it past five minutes. The respect is well-earned, which is why everyone turns a blind eye to his affairs with Bond. 

As long as they get the job done, he'll let them continue.

He doesn't have to like it.

 

 

_"Cousin." Richard beckons him forward after he asked to kiss his hand. They're both older, but not by much. Richard gazes down at him, chin tipped up by his forefinger, and it feels almost a blessing, if it happened years ago. They've grown apart._

_Richard busies himself with music, and paintings instead of the state. Henry has been whispered to by malicious ills, and if they were ever on the same page, they aren't anymore._

_But whatever the people think of him, whatever Henry thinks of him, Richard still has a glow about him like a saint, and he dresses in white even when everything around him is stark and gray._

_When Richard leans to press insistent lips to his forehead, Henry closes his eyes. Their trysts since Richard wed Princess Anne have been few, far in between, but he sees the red of Richard's swollen mouth in his sleep. Richard returns to his seat, and Henry watches his willowy back. The crown looks too heavy on his head._

_He's surprised by his exile, though Richard has always been unpredictable, though he knows he deserves it. He knows his father won't live to see him come home, and when he rides away, he's equal parts anger and regret._

 

 

"Don't shoot."

Tanner glances up. There's not much of anyone left in the building, but hours are always shifting, and being an exclusively night or morning person is unheard of.

Q's in the doorway, and he has two mugs in his hands. He's holding the door open with his hip and doesn't quite enter until Tanner beckons him inside. He sits, places the mugs on the desk.

"You like yours black, two sugars," Q says. Tanner doesn't need to ask how he knew. He takes the mug that isn't Q's, and takes a gulp. It burns his throat, but that's good. Keeps him awake before the caffeine kicks in.

"Head home," he tells Q. It's easier to look at him like this, from the corner of his eye, with most of the office lights turned off. He doesn't get distracted.

"Right back at you," says Q. Tanner imagines what he'd look like if he let his hair grow longer. He's quick to banish the thought. They drink in silence; Tanner appreciates the sentiment. 

After a while Q stands, mug in hand. "I'll check on the servers before anyone comes in." He catches a little of the sunrise in his eyes. That's right. The night has passed them by. 

Q leaves. Tanner knows there isn't any other way it could have gone.

 

 

_"King Henry." Richard isn't mocking him, but he doesn't let go of the crown until Henry's tugged it from his hands. He's had it crafted especially, chosen the jewels that adorned it himself. It isn't Henry's to have._

_Richard pulls off a Messiah quite well. He's always been theatric, but he bears the burden of truth. Henry is Pilate leading him to the cross, and that's how the history books will remember him. It's too late to take anything back._

_Richard's still beautiful. But that isn't enough._

_The next time Henry sees him it's in a wooden box, not even a coffin. He's more silver than gold now, more red than green. Henry contemplates a world without Richard's voice calling him._

_Henry's destined for misery, not divinity. No one around him realizes, and when they're able, they fashion him a new crown. It's still far too heavy, but this is his penance, and he doesn't ask them to change it._

_On his deathbed, his legacy left in the hands of his wayward son, he imagines a Richard who had the chance to grow old. He can't._

_Richard was the Boy King. Henry knows there isn't any other way it could have gone._

 

 

and i'll ask for the sea

**Author's Note:**

> I know diddlysquat about what I just wrote about but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.
> 
> Title from 'Volcano' by Damien Rice.


End file.
